Daedalus
by TheDoctorsMistress
Summary: The TARDIS picks up an emergency signal from a spaceship and the Doctor and his companions go to investigate/help out. Soon they discover an old friend - or is it foe(?) - aboard.. a friend who they believed to be dead. Eventually Master/OC


**AN:**_ Sooo... this is a preview of the Doctor Who story I've been working on for the past 10 months or so =P (I've been doing endless amounts on research to get the facts and such right..)_

_I just wanted to upload a tiny preview to hear whether it was something anyone would be interested in reading, or if I should just not bother writing it down and just let it stay in my head for all eternity. In that case I suppose this is just a oneshot._

_Aaaanyway, before you continue you should probably be given a bit of backstory, as this is not the actual first chapter:_

The (eleventh) Doctor is travelling with a new companion (Isabella Tallis – who's usually referred to simply as "Tallis") and Ailla (a Time Lady who used to travel with the Master, but never told him that she wasn't human – _to get the full summary you should look her up or read _The Dark Path_, which is an official _Doctor Who_ novel_). They've picked up an emergency signal from a spaceship and gone to investigate/help. They split up, Tallis and the Doctor together and Ailla investigating on her own, however she gets knocked out by someone.. aaaand that's pretty much where this chapter begins:

(Oh, and it's pre-Pond-exit.. so somewhere in between _The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe_, and _The Power of Three_.)

* * *

**~ Chapter Two ~**

_Greetings, old Friend_

* * *

Ailla awoke in a darkened cell. _Great_, she thought, _first adventure where I get to explore on my own and I get caught within 30 minutes_. In a very slow motion, she sat up and looked around the large cell; she could barely make out any details, as her eyes hadn't adjusted to the odd dim light yet, but she was pretty sure she could see someone sitting up against the wall opposite herself.

As her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light she could make out more details; the person sitting on the other side of the cell was wearing dark clothes; a hood was covering the person's face in shadow, but she was sure he or she was some kind of humanoid.

"Enjoying the view?" A male voice suddenly came from the person, startling her.

"No, sorry.. just checking to see if you were alive or not – it's nice to know if you're sharing a cell with a corpse or not, after all.." She told the stranger.

"Right. Well, you need not worry." He told her as he moved to sit differently.

"Who said I was _worried_?" She muttered.

"Ooooh, you're a feisty one, aren't you?" He said sarcastically. When she didn't say anything he continued; "so.. how did you end up here? First time I've had a room-mate during my.. _stay_."

"We received a distress signal from the ship and came to check. Simple as that, really." She told him, shrugging her shoulder casually.

"'We?'" He inquired.

"Yeah, '_we_' – myself and my friends; Tallis and the Doctor." She told him.

"The _Doctor?_" He asked, his voice bearing the smallest hint of surprise, "I'd heard the Doctor was dead."

She frowned for a moment. "Oh, _that!_" She snorted, "yeah, well, he likes to have 'the element of surprise' on his side.. what better way to do so than letting people think you've died."

"I see." The stranger said simply. "So.. I assume you're human?" He asked after a while.

"Why would you assume _that?_" She asked, slightly offended.

"Well, humans are the Doctor's preferred travelling _buddies_, after all." He explained.

"I suppose you're right about that." She admitted before looking towards the stranger again, "I have to admit I'm starting to feel a bit uncomfortable not knowing who I'm talking to; so if you're expecting me to continue this little _chat_ -" she didn't get to finish her sentence before the stranger interrupted her.

"Fine." He said and pulled back his hood to reveal a very human-looking face with brown eyes and ash blonde hair. "Satisfied?" He asked her.

"Actually, I was just gonna ask for your name." She said, shrugging her shoulder. "I thought perhaps you didn't want me to see your face because it was scarred, or something – you know, _a la_ 'Phantom of the Opera'."

He huffed in what Ailla assumed to be either amusement or annoyance – possibly an odd mix of the two, "Sorry to disappoint," he said before silence fell between them.

…

"The Master" came his voice, barely more than a whisper, after a while.

"Pardon?" Ailla said, convinced that she couldn't possibly have heard him right; after all, to her knowledge, _he_ was dead.

"The _Master._" He repeated louder and clearer, "that's my name."

"Oh.." She didn't know what else to say, "all right."

The Master looked up at her, seemingly surprised, "that's it?!" He asked her, raising an eyebrow, "usually people ask 'what kind of name is that?'"

"Well, I do travel with _The Doctor_ – do you expect me to be surprised by _your_ name, then?" She rationalized quickly. _Fantastic,_ she thought to herself, _keeping my identity from him _again_.. he'll be ever so pleased, when he finds out._

"So?" He asked, his eyes firmly on her face.

"What?!" She asked back.

"When one gives one's name, one expects to receive a name in return." He told her, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

She looked up at him, "sorry to disappoint _one_, but I don't usually give my name to people I don't know." She told him sharply. _Yeah, make him angry _and_ lie to him, that'll make him forgive and forget,_ she scolded herself mentally.

"Are you always this pestering?" The Master asked her.

"Only when I get knocked out and locked in a cell.." She told him, as she shifted a bit, "and chained to a wall."

"And that happens a lot, does it?" He asked with a risen eyebrow.

"First time in eigh-" she stopped herself before she said 'eighty years' and instead just ended the sentence with; "..a long time."

"Yeah. Me too." The Master muttered, clearly more to himself than Ailla.

"So.. you wouldn't happen to have a plan of escape?" She asked him.

"Do you think I would have stayed in here and played welcome committee for you if I did?" He asked in return, his voice thick with annoyance.

"Sorry." She muttered.

"What about yourself?" He asked her, "you wouldn't happen to have a weapon concealed somewhere?" Ailla couldn't quite tell if he was being sarcastic or not. He probably was.

Then she remembered something. "Oh.. _OH_!" She uttered.

"What?" The Master asked with an obvious lack of interest.

"I have the Doctor's sonic screwdriver!" She said in a low voice.

"He actually _gave_ you that?" The Master asked, clearly surprised.

Ailla's face started to tint, "I may have.. _lifted_ it off of him." She admitted. Indeed she had taken it without the Doctor noticing; that had been her reason for hugging him before parting with him and Tallis earlier.

"Good girl." The Master said and flashed her a smile.

"Yeah, the only problem is that I can't really reach it with my hands tied on my back and chained to the wall, can I?" She said in frustration.

"You're not _bendy_, then?" The Master asked with a lifted eyebrow and wearing what seemed to be an amused expression.

"Ha. Ha. _Ha._" She said dryly, giving him a pointed look.

"Allow me, then." The Master said and stood up from where he'd been sitting, before he started walking towards her.

Ailla gaped at him as he approached her, "you weren't chained to the wall." She stated.

"Good observation," he said sarcastically. "Did I ever claim that I was?"

"No, but.. I am; so I assumed.." Her voice died out.

"Yeah, well; I've been here long enough to know that I'd get nothing from trying to escape, so they stopped chaining me to the wall." He told her, "but I didn't have a sonic device then, did I?" He grinned at her, before he crouched down in front of her; "so.. where is it?" He asked her.

"I'll tell you.. if you promise you'll release me too." She told him, staring him in the eyes.

"Ahh.. you seem to forget, dear, that I could just find it myself." He said, looking down over her body, trying to make a point, "I believe it's called a 'frisk search'?"

Ailla swallowed a lump that had suddenly build up in her throat. It wasn't really because she feared him touching her – after all they had been lovers once, even if he didn't recognize her now – it was the thought of him leaving her to rot in this damned cell. "Please?" She pleaded. "Don't leave me here, I beg you."

The Master leaned a bit closer towards her, reducing the space between their faces greatly; "be a good girl and tell me where you hid the sonic and maybe, just _maybe_, I'll consider releasing you." He told her in a low, and slightly threatening, voice.

Ailla held his gaze for a long time before giving a defeated sigh, "inside my left boot."

The Master's eyes lowered to her heaving bosom, "pity" he said and gave her cruel smile, as his hands went to her left leg and extended it for her, before he zipped the boot open and pulled out the screwdriver.

He leaned towards her face and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "thank you, darling,

" he said mockingly, before he stood back up and went to the locked cell door.

"Please, I beg you.. don't leave me here." She tried to control her voice, but despite her best attempt, she couldn't hide the obvious panic she was starting to feel; the thought of being left in this place, and the possibility of having to stay in one place against her will for years once more, was almost too much for her to bear.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but I work better alone." He told her, with no hint of remorse in his voice, whilst he tried to open the lock with the sonic screwdriver.

"Please, I promise you, I'll do anything you ask, just don't leave me here to rot." She knew how pathetic she sounded, and she knew that the Master didn't like weak people, but she hoped he might see an opportunity in bringing her with him, "Master.. _please._"

The Master inhaled deeply, considering what she was saying, though he didn't know why; perhaps it had to do with him having been alone for so long, or that she was the person who he should thank for the freedom he was about to gain – regardless he cursed himself for what he was about to do, when he turned the screwdriver towards the now silently sobbing woman, and heard the handcuffs click open, before he pointed the screwdriver back at the lock on the door, acting as if nothing had happened.

Ailla had felt the handcuffs click open around her wrists, and was completely gobsmacked for a moment, before she realised that she had indeed been freed. She quickly zipped up the boot the Master had left open, and got up and went to stand next to him, looking up at his face, "thank you," she told him quietly.

"It's fine," he said, not bothering to look up at her.

All of a sudden his gaze shifted, so he was staring straight into her eyes; "just don't make me regret it." He warned in a low voice.

"I promise." She told him and smiled softly to herself.

Finally the lock clicked open, but before Ailla could push the door open the Master's arm had slammed up between her and the door, blocking her way out. "So.. do I qualify to learn your name now, _oh, mysterious stranger?_" The Master asked her mockingly, though his voice held a certain amount of.. danger.

Ailla's mind suddenly spun 1000 mph; at least that's how it felt. She couldn't tell him who she really was, not now when he'd finally agreed to bring her; he'd change his mind instantly and chain her to the wall again. _A name, _she thought, _need a name. Now!_

"Isabella." She blurted out, _right, give him Tallis' name,_ she scolded herself mentally once again, _wonderful idea, that won't end badly_ at all!

He looked up to meet her eyes, "now, that wasn't so bad, was it, _Isabella?_" He asked her and removed his arm from the door frame, before he walked out of the door.

"No," she answered simply and then followed behind him, "it wasn't."

"I'll need to come up with some kind of nickname for you, though, if I'm to keep you - 'Isabella' ... doesn't suit you." He told her.

"sorry, '_keep me'?_" Ailla asked, the outrage clear in her voice, "I'm not your bloody _pet_!" She spat at him in contempt.

The Master stopped, causing Ailla to almost slam into his back, "I'm sorry, what happened to 'please, I beg you, I'll do _aaaa_anything you ask'?" The Master asked her, whilst battering his lashes at her as best he could, to emphasize her role as the 'damsel in distress.'

Ailla looked up at him, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly, not knowing what to say.

"That's what I thought" he stated and turned around to walk on again.

* * *

_Soo.. any thoughts? Continue or not?_


End file.
